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She really is a licensed mortician, who's produced over a hundred episodes of "Ask a Mortician" over the last six years. Everything you wanted to know about death, and then some. She offers a little history "In the late s coffins went out of fashion, in favor of caskets" , and a surprising amount of humor, considering the subject. Her bestselling memoir, "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" and yes, she was also a crematory operator , argues that Americans need to think more about end-of-life rituals, instead of keeping death at a distance.

They're not where they need to be. So I love the fact that we've really started a movement.

Mortician Caitlin Doughty on a "good death"

That movement was on full display last month, when a few hundred "deathlings" as Doughty calls them descended on Seattle for the seventh annual Death Salon, where discussion groups talked about death with other "geeky death nerds. There were grief counselors Megan Devine said, "'Everything happens for a reason' is a stack of dismissive crap" and green burial advocates "After a green burial, we often come back to plant native plants on the site," said Brian Flowers.


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Megan Rosenbloom, who helped Doughty organize the weekend, said, "When you come to a Death Salon, people might have an idea that it would be very depressing or something like that. And although there are definitely moments where you hear very touching, sad stories, or whatever, it's actually quite a lot of fun. For the record, none of these deathlings are "pro-death. Doughty helps people perform wakes and funerals in their own homes. Her new book, "From Here to Eternity," goes way beyond the United States in search of "the good death. She discovered some curious approaches, and words, like columbaria separate buildings for storing cremated remains.

And your loved one's Buddha will light up and start pulsing and glowing.

Old funeral home to make way for new stores

Violet and her family had settled in a remote, isolated northern area that was booming and becoming quickly inhabited by optimistic homesteaders—most of them from England. She and her family too, had immigrated from Britain, having just arrived in Canada a few years earlier, also with high hopes for the future.

The area was developing at a rapid rate; some said it would eventually be bigger than Chicago, which was the impetus for the growth and development of the railroad. With her hopes dashed, she set to work to build a life for herself and her remaining children. In spite of one disaster after another, Violet never lost her sense of humor or her hope. She is an example of a strong woman who personifies perseverance and courage.

50 best Mortician images on Pinterest | Death, Creepy and Fanny pics

Temporarily leaving her family, Violet went south to learn the trade of embalming and operating a funeral home at a time when it was unseemly for a woman to be in business. And it seemed the coroner and others were trying to bankrupt her and take her home and her company.

But Vi was tough…she had to be, and sometimes a little bit impulsive, a trait that lead to several misunderstandings that affected both Violet and her children adversely. This book is written as a series of short stories with a common thread: During her career as a mortician in the early 's, Violet had to bury countless numbers of babies and small children; there was the unforgettable day when four small children drowned while trying to save their grandfather.

Rough-and-tumble characters were streaming north to make their fortunes in the early 's: She had to thaw out a frozen man in her kitchen. She was trapped under the body of another until help arrived hours later. She was witness to a chilling crime that took place in the morgue. You will read about a famous Alaskan dog sledder who died along with his dogs in the most gruesome manner and the flying aces that crashed their planes on the street of her little town, one of them falling out of the cockpit while barnstorming with a child aboard…her own children's friend.

Then there were the homesteaders coming from England Violet performed the duties of this profession, without that requisite and essential utility: Many of the stories you will read in this book are stranger than fiction. In spite of the slightly macabre subject of this book, you will find there are times you will chuckle and find yourself feeling inspired by her life and her children's lives and experiences in the far north in the early 's.

A novelist will find some intriguing stories and characters.

An historian will discover a heretofore, untold aspect of life in northern Manitoba. But luckiest is the reader who can enjoy it for its lovely, engaging character. Kindle Edition , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Quite an Undertaking , please sign up.

Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Oct 16, Michael rated it it was amazing.

Quite an Undertaking: Violet Guymer's Story - True Tales from the Mortuary

Violet Guymer was not what I expected I learned quickly to abhor the coroner. Yet his actions set the path for this amazing woman. This was the first book I've ever read set in the Canadian wilderness. No doubt life has changed there in the past years, but there is much to learn from the life and dreams of this remarkable woman.

Sep 20, Emma Darcy rated it it was ok.

Undertaking Palor

It started with a lot of promise, but honestly there is very little undertaking in this book. If it had said straight up that it was going to be about a woman's experiences in Canada at that time, I would have had different expectations and probably been very happy with this biography. There just isn't enough true tales from the mortuary, and since that is part of the title of the book, I was disappointed. Aug 21, Lisa rated it it was ok Shelves: I mean, it probably would have gotten a better rating if I had been looking for a memoir about emigrating to Canada in the s.